Man wrestles officer off balcony

Published 7:34 am, Tuesday, June 23, 2015

A Midland Police Department squad car is seen in this undated file photo.

A Midland Police Department squad car is seen in this undated file photo.

Man wrestles officer off balcony

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A 31-year-old Midland man was arrested Sunday after allegedly resisting arrest and pushing an officer from a balcony.

Anthony Sherrell was held Monday on a first-degree felony charge of aggravated assault against a public servant, according to police records. No bond amount had been posted Monday night.

Police officers were dispatched to an apartment in the 5200 block of West Loop 250 in reference to a disturbance. Sherrell opened the apartment unit’s door when police arrived, and police immediately noticed a strong odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath and observed that the man was shirtless and large in stature with defined muscle tone, according to court records.

After speaking and interviewing other people in the apartment, it appeared to officers that Sherrell had unreasonably punished a 16-year-old house member, who suffered nose and facial injuries. Upon attempting to arrest Sherrell for the assault, he began to pull his hand away and raise hands in a threatening manner. Two police officers continued to force him to comply, but Sherrell pushed one officer into another room and swung at another, according to his arrest affidavit.

Sherrell then allegedly grabbed one of the officers by the waist and dragged him out to the apartment’s balcony and held him on the metal railing.

“He then lifted me off of the balcony floor, using the top of the safety railing as a fulcrum to tip me head down,” the officer wrote in Sherrell’s arrest affidavit. “At this time I feared that Anthony was going to cause me to suffer ... by intentionally throwing me head first onto the ground from a height of over 10 feet.”

At this point, the metal railing broke and both the officer and Sherrell fell from the second floor to ground level. Once on the ground, the officer drew his weapon at Sherrell, according to the affidavit.

“Once drawn, I ordered Anthony to the ground and advised him his non-compliance would result in him being shot,” the officer wrote in the affidavit. Sherrell then surrendered and was placed in handcuffs.

If convicted of the first-degree felony, Sherrell could face up to 99 years in prison.